Underestimated
by nanirain
Summary: SasuSaku & NaruSaku & SasuNaruSaku & Team7 oneshots. A-chronological.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: based on chapter 469. I can't believe Kishi actually did that. My reaction: "... (stunned) FURY!! ... (stunned)... saaad... FURY! CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. Poor Naruto. Poor Naruto. Poor Naruto." something like that. Naruto's POV. Very short.

* * *

She's always underestimating me. _Always_. Although I've shown her time and time again what I'm made of now – how I've changed it all for her. Okay, so maybe its fair to say that women are as alien a thing to me as wobbly, Martian jell-o bits, and yeah, okay, so I've gotten a bit of a reputation for misreading a couple situations in the past.

But I know Sakura-chan. Like I know my own fist.

I have never been angry with her before. Now it takes every ounce of will power to keep myself from sinking my nails into her arms, to keep myself from bruising her with my fingers. "Stop it Sakura! This isn't funny!"

She looks at me, shocked. Her wide green eyes are bright against the backdrop of the snow. Like I said, she has completely underestimated me.

"_I hate people_," my hiss is vicious, unyielding "_who lie to themselves_."

Fear flicks across her eyes.

If only you knew, Sakura, how much I understand you. It is quite possible, I know now, that you will never love me.

-End-

~ Nani


	2. Chapter 2, On Loss

**A/N**: Obviously, I wrote this write after Sakura's confession. And OBVIOUSLY Kimishimoto went in a totally different direction. Sorry guys, :P the man moves fast.  
Also, I LOVE reviews. If there's something you want to say, say it.

**Disclaimer**: Naruto (c) belongs to Kishimoto.

* * *

When she told the others she wanted to track Sasuke down, she didn't think any of her companions had believed they would succeed. Kiba and Lee had helped her out of loyalty and friendship, not enthusiasm. And Sai… well, she never really knew what Sai's motives were. He was the one who started this whole mess.

And it all came down to this. Sakura shifted back slightly, deeper into the nest of foliage and snow that was shielding her from sight.

Sasuke was here. His Akatsuki robe was inky black and sharp crimson against white snow. She watched him from above and prayed she could pull this off. Lee, Kiba, and Sai were distracting Sasuke's new teammates but she had asked, no, more like _ordered_ them to fall back as soon as it got dangerous. Sai's clone would tell her when that happened. She had very little time.

Sasuke stopped suddenly, sensing the trace amounts of chakra she had leaked through. She had no chance of taking Sasuke on physically. So she was going to do this in the only way she knew how. _For Naruto's sake_. She steeled herself.

Soundlessly, Sakura dropped down from the trees and landed in the snow before him. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. Before Sakura was the same dark, impassive face that had been haunting her for years. Fighting the urge to wince, she carefully maintained her stony expression. But she still couldn't help but stare with a sort of sickened fascination. He looked awful. Yet he was the same. He was different and strange. But he was the most familiar thing she'd ever seen in her life, like home. A home that she had been trying to get back to for years, only to find it had already been ravaged and claimed by strangers. There was so much she had lost in his face.

"Sasuke," she said, "we need to talk."

It was strange, to approach him like this after years of frantic chasing and desperate battles. '_If we can only beat him.' _She used to tell herself, '_If we can only _win _we can take him back…_' She was bemused now that she could have ever once thought such a thing. It was Naruto's place to fight and use force. He was too brazen and overly emotional to be able to do anything else. And besides that he was actually strong enough to take Sasuke on. But Sakura, who for all her strength would probably never be able to land one punch on his man, she was left with only this method. Somehow it seemed even more direct and frightening than battle.

Sasuke stared back at her flatly. There were so many things she wanted to ask him, wanted to do to him. She wanted to grab him by the throat and shake him senseless. She wanted throw her arms around his neck and bury her fingers in his hair. She waned to punch him in the stomach until he bled out both ends. _Why are you working with Akatsuki? How could you have become so stupid? Don't you think about us ever? Don't you realize you're destroying everything? _But mostly she just wanted to ask, _How are you? _And, _What have they done to you?_

But to do any of these things would be to distance herself irrevocably from him. She had to reach Sasuke in a place he would understand, otherwise she would only be the same annoying brat she had always been. And he would ignore her, as he always had. She couldn't afford to be ignored.

"Leave Akatsuki," Sakura said, "and leave Konoha alone."

Sasuke's eyes hardened with what she saw as tightly sealed rage. Then he smiled cruelly at her. He said nothing.

"You're a missing nin now," Sakura told him coldly, wondering from where this new iciness insider her was stemming. Some part of her reveled in it. Some part of her wanted to see if she could hurt him. "There are nation-wide orders to kill you on sight."

Something like sick amusement lit in his eyes. More than anything she wanted to punch his face. "Naruto doesn't know yet. And I'm not going to tell him. Akatsuki is after the tailed-beasts… but I'm sure I don't need to be the one telling _you_ their agenda." She added coldly, nodding at his black and red cloak. "Konoha is gone. Tusnade is out. The only way Akatsuki can lay their hands on Naruto is if he strikes out on his own. And the only reason he would strike out on his own… is for you."

Silence spread between them, thicker than the snow they were standing in. White flakes began to collect in their hair and on the shoulders of their clothes. "Aren't you going to say anything?" She asked.

"What," Sasuke said, "am I expected to say?"

Sakura fisted her hands beneath her cloak, not bothering to conceal her anger. They stared at each other for eons. "Naruto won't give up on you. You know that as well as I do. Everything he does, he's been doing for _you_."

"Naruto is a moron."

"_Itachi is dead!_"

Something low, painful and hurt ripped itself loose from Sasuke's chest. He all but snarled at her. There was a new pain there, a fresh pain. An agony. Something had happened that she didn't know about. But whose fault was that?

"Itachi is dead." Sakura said again, flatly. "Are you any happier? Did vengeance help? I know that you've pushed Naruto and me away and I know that between the two of us, I'm the one that's been placed the farther. You won't tell me what's going on, so I'll tell _you_. Naruto's not indestructible. You can't keep relying on the fact that he's alive out there, fighting. If you can't come home again, fine. We both know I can't force you. But if you continue on like this," she stared him directly in the eye, "you will kill him, Sasuke."

Sasuke glared at her. Beneath the cover of his cloak, she couldn't tell whether or not he was reaching for his sword. He looked up sharply.

"Sakura." Above them, Sai was crouched on a branch, impassively studying the scene. "We're falling back. The water nin broke Lee's arm."

Stonily, Sakura nodded and looked back at Sasuke. For a moment she thought she saw a flit of emotion across his face. A desperate, painful anger. A wound she could never close.

"Even if you believe it's too late for you, Sasuke," she allowed her mask to slip every so slightly, a softness found its way into her face, "don't do this to him."

Sasuke stared at her. She and Sai took off together. Sasuke watched, his face sliding back into that blank stare. He kept his gaze fixed on the last spot he had seen them.

A long, exaggerated sigh came from his right. "Konoha pests." Suigetsu materialized. "Green-tights dented my sword…"

"You shouldn't be so sloppy," Karin cut snidely.

"Ha! Rich from the girl who never so much as lifts a finger once the fight begins. You took one look at that giant dog and clawed your way beneath a rock."

"None of you would have been alive if _I _hadn't sensed them coming in the first place. I'm more indispensable than your stupid, dented sword. Right Sasuke?"

"Sasuke?"

"…Sasuke?"

The three members of Eagle closed in around their leader who remained passively gazing at the sky.

_So… coool…_ Karin thought dreamily.

Jugo was the one who finally placed a hand on the stolid teen. Sasuke's dark eyes moved from the sky to Jugo's hand. The older man released him. "What is it?"

Sasuke shrugged off his teammates and began moving forward. "It's nothing." He said. '_That can be changed…_'

OoOoOoOoO

It would have been impossible to travel the entire way back with Lee's mending arm. They stopped in the Land of Iron to do recon and get a night's rest before they returned to The Hidden Leaf.

"Stop squirming."

"It hurts!"

"It's barely a scratch compared to Lee's arm. He didn't make a big deal out of it."

"I wasn't making a big deal out of it either until you decided to put all these stinky creams on it. They're giving me a headache…"

"Better a headache than an infection on your face."

"Akamaru and I don't get infections."

"Everyone gets infections. Now shut up. When you flex your circumoral muscles, I can't stitch this properly."

"My what my what?"

"Just stop talking!"

The room fell into a companionable silence. Sakura sat cross-legged on the floor, sewing up a laceration in Kiba's right cheek as he leant back onto Akamaru's ribcage. Lee was lying on the couch, his arm splinted with crude supplies they were able to scam and threaten off of the hotel manager. Sai was leaning in the back corner, watching.

When Sakura finished, Kiba reclined back onto his dog's stomach. "They," he said gruffly, "are a lot tougher than they look. And they looked pretty tough… except for that freak, red-headed chick. Did you see the way she screamed and crawled under a rock when she saw Akamaru? The other two though," Kiba frowned, "are strong."

Sakura smiled grimly. "Sasuke wouldn't expect less."

Awkward silence. Lee sat up. "Sakura," he said, "you shouldn't have lied to Naruto."

Sakura stiffened, her eyes swept up to meet Lee's. "Who said I was lying?"

A surprisingly serious look swept over Lee's face. "You at least should have told him about Sasuke."

"_Why_?" Sakura snapped. "So he runs to his death? _Naruto_ does more for Konoha than any of us!" Sakura leapt to her feet, glowering. "Do you really expect me to tell him that in return, the village just gave his best friend the number one slot on the ninja hit-list? You expect me to tell him that his own friends, who he's worked to protect, are out to destroy Sasuke? That he has to _choose_? Is that what you expected? Because I _can't_ say that to him!"

Lee and Kiba were looking down at the floor. No one in the room could lift their eyes. Silence gripped at their throats.

"I don't know what I should have done," Sakura said, sounding suddenly weak, staring at her hands. "But I definitely can't say those things to him."

The sound of a door closing behind them alerted everyone to the fact that someone else had just been listening in. "Kiba, who-"

"Shit," the dog-ninja started up to his feet. "It smells like Naruto."

Before anyone could say a word, Sakura was out the door and running down the hall. Lee jumped up, jostling his splinted arm and starting after her, but Sai's hand gently pushed the door closed. Lee looked up to see the pale boy's unsettling smile, "I think it might be best to let them talk."

"But-"

Some force behind Sai's smile silenced Lee, making him second-guess himself. In the back of the room, Kiba growled. "I hate this."

OoOoOoOoOoO

When she caught up to him, he was already outside, alone in the falling snow. The windows of the hotel cast wide shapes and slices of light onto the snowy landscape. Naruto was squatting down with his back against a nearby tree, his arms draped over his kneecaps. He barely looked up when she came outside.

Now that she was here, she didn't know what to say. '_I won't cry_,' she promised herself. '_If I start to cry now, I will never be able to stop._' "Naruto," Sakura forced herself, "what did you hear?"

"Everything," Naruto said bluntly. "I heard everything. I didn't mean to, I… I was looking for you. A villager mentioned that the inn was all out of bandages after a four man cell from Leaf had cleaned him out. I thought, maybe it was Sakura and those guys. Maybe one of them is hurt."

The snow muffled the other sounds from the inn and the village behind them. All that seemed to exist in this white, silent world was Naruto, herself, and Sasuke's absence.

"Did you see him?" Naruto asked, finally. "Is that why you didn't go back to Konoha?"

Sakura thought about lying. She honestly did, but Lee's face flashed in her mind. '_You should have told him.' _Naruto would find out anyway. There was no reason for it to be from anyone else but her. "Yes. I saw him."

Naruto looked up at her, the beginning of tears in his eyes. '_Don't,_' she felt herself start to choke up as well, hot tears pricked her own eyes, '_otherwise I'll start_.' Furiously, she blinked them back. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

Her teammate threw his head back hard, knocking against the tree, wincing at the pain but also, she could see, feeling some relief. His eyes remained closed, his countenance carefully maintained.

"He's not the same Sasuke we knew." God, did it hurt her to say those words. "I don't think he'll ever be our Sasuke again. He's damaged, Naruto. He's sick. I think he's in a place where we can never find him. Where we can't help him." Again, she found herself blinking back tears, "We've lost him, Naruto. We were too late."

Naruto leapt up, grapping her arms, hurting her a bit. "_Don't_, Sakura."

It was the closest they had ever been. Not physically, of course, but in a bigger way. Naruto stared into her face, and she stared back, knowing that the pain she found there was written all over her own features as well. Only they could understand this. Only they knew what it was like.

"The village approached me," Sakura said, still locked in Naruto's grip, "asking my permission. Actually, more like informing me. And I asked them to let me be the one to tell you… at first, they didn't know that I was planning seeing him afterwards."

Naruto's grip loosened on her. He seemed to just become aware that he had grabbed her in the first place. A part of her wanted to tell him, '_Hold onto me again_. _Make the pain come back again._' But she knew he wouldn't have, even if she'd asked him.

"I'm sorry. Even if you and I stand against this, they'll still mobilize. Kiba would do it. Neji would do it. So would Shikamaru. And Lee. Even Ino. They won't give up Konoha for Sasuke alone. They can't."

"And you?"

Sakura stood in silence for a while, staring up into those fierce, blue eyes.

"Sakura?"

"I would do it."

It broke her heart, the way Naruto looked at her. His hands fell away entirely. He stepped back from her.

"When Shikamaru told me," Sakura said, "I cried. I cried so hard. But, thinking about it… haven't we become selfish, Naruto? You and I? We tell ourselves that we want to help Sasuke, but we don't even know who he is. Searching for a boy who grew up into a man we don't understand, who doesn't want to be found. We're looking for our own sakes. And we're ignoring the deaths that pile up along the way. Overlooking his atrocities, his crimes… we're hurting everyone else around us."

Naruto turned away from her. Sakura looked at the ground. "You have to make a choice too. I was trying to keep you from it. But… now you will."

Suddenly, he whirled around, furious, angry. He grabbed her wrists and slammed her against the tree, violent. She understood. He crushed her mouth against his. He ground himself closer to her, hurting her. The bark cut through her clothes, dug into her skin. His grip would probably leave bruises around her wrists. Still, she pushed back, forcing his hot mouth harder onto hers, every inch of them touching.

Sakura understood.

This was not about love. _Though he did love her. _

This was about loss.


End file.
